Hours after the fire was contained, firefighters were still dousing hot spots Thursday morning at the corner of Commercial Street and Terminal Avenue in the aftermath of the blaze.
At least nine businesses had been destroyed including an art studio, addiction councillor offices, a picture frame shop, shoe cobbler, adult entertainment products store and Hired Guns commercial design studio, which has drawn international recognition for its label designs for the liquor industry. Much of what remained of the properties was strewn in the streets as a soggy, black layer of ash and debris.
Capt. Ennis Mond, Nanaimo Fire Rescue’s chief fire prevention officer, said efforts were underway to knock down hotspots so an engineer could get close to the structure to determine if a wall facing Lois Lane and the China Steps was in danger of collapse. Once that was assessed, investigators could get in to try and track down the source of the fire.
“After the trauma comes all the paperwork,” said Rick Hyne, who has managed the commercial block for owner Crankshaw Holdings since 2002. “There were five retail businesses and currently 10 occupied spaces upstairs.”
Hyne said that although tenancy agreements required tenants to carry insurance, the landlord did not check year by year to see if tenants maintained policies and some were not insured.
“I got a call from a tenant yesterday at about [6:40 p.m.] who said there was a lot of smoke in the hallway and he had phoned the fire department,” Hyne said. “I go down there and I see firetrucks and whatnot and it just seemed to have escalated from there and it was just getting worse and worse and worse. Every time we thought the fire department had it under control it would just go bang again.”
The fire became so hot in the upper floor of the building hot gases ignited, causing explosive flashover conditions, one of which was recorded by a bystander with a cellphone, in which flames could be seen exploding through the top floor of the building.
“I saw three of those in the upstairs when I was observing the fire from near the China Steps,” Mond said.
Fire ultimate burned through the roof of the building destroying the entire upper floor.
The investigation into the cause of the fire is expected to get underway Thursday afternoon.
